Preparing Installations for Maintenance and Uninstallation
InstallShield 2020
InstallShield lets your users rerun your installation to change program features or reinstall or remove your application. When users select your application in Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, the installation displays dialog boxes that let users do any of the following:
| • | Install individual features that were not previously installed, and uninstall individual features. |
| • | Reinstall your application with the settings selected during the first installation. |
| • | Uninstall your application. |
To modify, repair, or uninstall an application, the operating system must have some indication that the application is present. To allow this, an installation registers an application with the operating system so that it can be easily maintained or uninstalled. You enter the necessary information in the General Information view.
In all InstallShield installations, maintenance (that is, modification and repair) is handled automatically by default.
In a Windows Installer–based installation, uninstallation is handled automatically—with the sole exception of custom actions, which must either undo their own effect during uninstallation or have their effect undone by another custom action that runs only during uninstallation.
In an InstallScript or InstallScript MSI installation, many script functions’ actions are logged for automatic uninstallation; your uninstallation script must handle those script function actions that are not logged.
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